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You may already know that Australia and New Zealand have adopted international
standards for quality management and standards for quality control sampling and
testing procedures are available. More than likely these standards will apply to projects
that you work on.
The earlier versions of these standards were prescriptive and very precisely de ned
what had to be done. In 2000 the standards for quality assurance were revised and
changed from taking a prescriptive approach to a performance or desired outcome-
based system. In this new system, a performance-based standard de nes the outcome
and any necessary constraints, but leaves the user free to achieve the result by the most
appropriate available methods.
These standards deal with management systems only and apply to a wide range of
organisations and projects. They comprise a large set of documents that between them
de ne the general principles of quality management. The standards most widely used in
projects are:
Notice the last of these—AS ISO 10006: 2003—deals speci cally with the quality
management of projects. There is a link to this standard in the Learning Resources
section of this module.
There are also speci c standards for certain industries, products and processes.
Certain stakeholders have de ned authority and in uence, notably senior management
and the statutory bodies or a higher authority that issue approvals, e.g. the EPA. Senior
management has a responsibility to set the quality management system for the
organisation and to ensure that the systems for individual projects are compatible with
the organisation system. They must ensure that the appropriate speci c standards are
adopted in projects completed by their sta . A building surveyor may need to approve
plans for a building. Other government inspectors have authority to enforce safe
working practices. Some will have greater in uence than others. Financiers may impose
conditions before making a loan. Others, such as designers, lawyers and contractors
have speci c expertise. They can signi cantly in uence the structure of the project, the
nal requirements and the way it is carried out.
Designing the quality control system at the project proposal and development
phases
Completing a nal project review and identify any improvement opportunities for
future projects during the project closure phase
You and others in your organisation are responsible for setting up the quality
management system for the project. In designing a quality management system for a
project you need to consider a number of factors:
However you can't just focus on the processes. E ective quality management is as much
about managing people as it is about managing processes. A quality management
system requires everyone on the project to be committed to achieving quality and an
e ective project manager should be able to lead sta and establish a team culture that
promotes quality.
As a project manager, you need to have a complete view of the project. You cannot
a ord to become involved in detail at the expense of managing the whole project. The
skill in project quality management lies in delegating detail to reliable and expert team
members. You cannot do the work of experts, but must make sure they complete the
task according to project schedules and the standards set. The challenge is in handling
complexity, rather than in solving speci c technical problems.
responsibility if things go wrong—usually this is the project manager. There are areas
requiring complex technical decisions to be made that cannot be made by people with a
limited appreciation of the problem. While everyone has to operate responsibly within
his/her capability, there is a limit to collective responsibility.
It is hardly fair to blame the shop oor mechanics if an aircraft fails as a result of a bad
technical design decision. They are culpable, however, if they fail to observe and report
obvious cracking in a component. Their supervisors also have responsibility to make
sure that the mechanics are aware of the seriousness of such defects and that they are
given the procedures, training and resources to inspect them properly.
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The rst thing that occurs in the project life cycle in relation to quality management is to
establish the client's quality requirements. This involves you working with closely with a
range of stakeholders who will have di erent needs and can in uence project success in
di erent ways.
Once the project is underway the consultation process continues. Assuring quality
throughout the project is the collective responsibility of all the stakeholders, who have a
vested interest in the success of the project. When issues of quality arise or
opportunities for improvement are identi ed the project manager may need to consult
particular stakeholders for their input, advice and/or agreement. They can be internal to
the project organisation (e.g. project team members, senior management), or external
stakeholders (e.g. client, end-users, contractors, local council building authorities).
What Is To Be Achieved?
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As we noted earlier, it is crucial to project success that the quality criteria and the project
outcome required are identi ed early on in the production stages of the project life
cycle. The client's and other requirements (e.g. statutory requirements such as planning
legislation, occupational health and safety legislation) have to be identi ed. This is an
iterative process and all the relevant stakeholders must be consulted. Generally, a
number of stakeholders participate in identifying project requirements, e.g. senior
management, contractors and the project designer.
project manager participate in all negotiations from the outset. He/she should
attend all meetings and clearly document what is considered, what is achieved
and the actions that are needed. If tenders are called, this documentation
becomes the basis of the tender.
Suppliers of goods and services must also be involved, e.g. specialist consultants and
others to whom work may be outsourced. E ective communication with suppliers is
essential if they are to deliver work of acceptable quality on time.
Once the project requirements have been identi ed, the project manager should ensure
that:
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the project speci cations that de ne the scope of the project are developed.
These speci cations include the quality outcome required, e.g. design
requirements, physical speci cations like dimensions, material properties, and
component or equipment performance.
Once the project speci cations have been documented, a quality management plan
needs to be developed before the production stage starts. The quality management plan
is an important part of the project information system and sets the framework for
achieving quality in both the management of the project and the project outcome.
Project managers have the responsibility for overseeing the development and
implementation of the quality management plan, but do so in consultation with other
stakeholders. As we noted earlier, senior management puts in place the organisation's
quality management system and ensures that individual projects are conducted
according to these systems. They also have responsibility to see that the appropriate
speci c standards are adopted in projects.
You rarely have to develop the plan from scratch as your organisation will probably
already have existing quality and business plans that will include relevant policies, work
processes and procedures that apply to your project. Don't double up when what you
need already exists elsewhere in the organisation. You may have to modify existing
plans, but only develop project speci c procedures, inspection and testing plans and
sample forms, etc. if they do not already exist and if your particular project requires
them.
The contents of a quality management plan should re ect the scope and complexity of
the project. It is no good having an elaborate maze of policies, procedure manuals and
testing plans that are incomprehensible to those who rely on them to assist them to
coordinate and control their work activities. Good documentation clearly de nes what is
to be achieved and is capable of being followed by those who use it.
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The introductory section clearly de nes the project. It describes how quality will be
managed throughout the lifecycle of the project. It also includes the processes and
procedures for ensuring quality planning, assurance, and control are all conducted. All
stakeholders should be familiar with how quality will be planned, assured, and
controlled. Information give should include:
identifying stakeholders
the need for a clear project brief and elements that should be included in it.
The next sections of the plan will de ne the processes in the design, planning and
execution of the project such as:
This section describes the approach the organisation will use for managing quality
throughout the project’s life cycle. The organisation may already have a standardised
approach to quality, however, whether it is standard or not, the approach must be
de ned and communicated to all project stakeholders.
This section should describe how the project team and/or quality group will identify and
document the quality requirements and standards. Additionally, there should also be an
explanation of how the project will demonstrate compliance with those identi ed quality
standards. The quality standards and requirements should include both the product and
processes.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
This section should explain how you will de ne and document the process for auditing
the quality requirements and results from quality control measurements in order to
ensure that quality standards and operational de nitions are used. This section should
also document the actual quality assurance metrics used for this project.
QUALITY CONTROL
This section describes how you will de ne and document the process for monitoring and
recording results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and
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This section should contain a sample or useable table/log to be used in taking quality
measurements and comparing them against standards/requirements. These forms may
be found in many di erent styles or formats. The most important aspect of this log is to
provide documentation of the ndings. If actual measurements do not meet the
standards or requirements then some action must be taken. This may be done in
regularly scheduled project status meetings or as necessary throughout the project
lifecycle.
The nal sections of the plan will de ne the processes in the termination of the project
and measures to ensure continuos improvement. It will also include an area for
authorisation signatures.
risk management
matters dealing with the administration of the project contract which are not
covered in the formal contract documents
cost estimation, nancing of the project, nancial recording, reporting and control
A number of common problems in project documentation that can a ect the work
carried out during a project and what is achieved at the end of a project are:
inaccurate documentation
inaccessible documentation
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You should try to avoid these when developing your project management plan by
making the plan ' t for its purpose'.
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If you have responsibility for developing a quality management manual, make sure its
format and content are consistent with organisational policies and any certi cation
conditions that the organisation must comply with. This manual should be regularly
updated and there should be restrictions placed on who is authorised to make changes
to it. However, project team members must have access to those sections of the plan
that they need to carry out their work.
With the project quality management plan in place, ideally all project sta know their
roles and responsibilities, have the resources to carry out their project work, have
procedures to follow and are clear about the quality standards they are to achieve. In
other words, we have built in quality from the project beginning. But we all know that
reality is always di erent. All the planning in the world does not mean things will go
smoothly—problems always arise.
Data and analysis, not trial and error or guesswork, are the only ways to promote quality
and continuous improvement. Monitoring speci c tasks and project results to minimise
variation, eliminate unsatisfactory performance, and ensure compliance with the
de ned project speci cations and quality standards are important.
Through inspection, data analysis, and other techniques project teams can deliver
quality improvements and eliminate rework.
Before we look at some techniques to use, let's discuss some principles to apply to data
collection.
To avoid data overload and ensure we are not collecting data for its own sake, any data
we collect should:
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be fed back to the person who collects the data and the team responsible for the
process
Let's look at some useful techniques to use when you identify quality problems and
need solutions.
Brainstorming
Project managers and their teams often use a cause and e ect diagram to classify the
likely causes of a problem and their possible e ects. The diagram gives a basis for
systematic analysis of the problem. The causes are divided into broad areas of activity
noted at the tip of each branch. The likely causes that have been identi ed in the area
are noted on each branch. The e ect is noted in the box at the right hand side of the
diagram.
Pareto Charts
You might have noticed that the cause and e ect diagram does not show the relative
importance of the causes. Rectifying some causes produces a greater e ect on the nal
outcome than others. You may have heard of the Pareto principle, sometimes called the
80:20 principle. This suggests that a few causes, perhaps 20%, might cause 80% of the
problem. A tool you can use to identify and prioritise those problems that require
immediate attention is the Pareto chart. You construct the chart by ranking the data in
frequency of occurrence and plotting the bars in descending order.
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Tolerances
Designers choose these tolerances so that the smallest permissible gap (smallest
bearing diameter—largest shaft diameter) and the largest permissible gap (largest
bearing diameter—smallest shaft diameter) allow the bearing to properly function. A
sample of bearings is measured to see if they lie within the tolerances. If the sample
fails, the whole batch might be rejected. Generally independent inspectors, not the
workers who make the bearings, conduct the quality control inspections.
How does quality control apply to projects? Right at the start of the project life cycle in
the proposal stage, the project manager, in consultation with the client and other
stakeholders, particularly the designers, ensures that the required project outcomes,
allowable tolerances, the required resources and the SQC procedures are identi ed.
These are de ned in the speci cations for the project at the project development stage.
These techniques are not the only techniques available to help identify problems and
generate solutions. Other techniques that you may use in your workplace or have heard
of include: check sheets, benchmarking, histograms, process capability charts.
A ow chart outlines the pathway that will be travelled by the project management team
through the project life-cycle. A quality management owchart would look similar to this:
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In the implementation stage when the project is underway we move to a point where we
have to measure the progress of a project and ensure that the quality requirements are
being met. It is the project manager's responsibility to coordinate this process.
We have to develop e ective methods of measurement that give us valid information for
making decisions. In a project, which is moving rapidly, prompt feedback of information
is essential.
Project managers need to classify issues that arise. They can x minor issues themselves
and are expected to do so. They can deal directly with the client over minor issues, but
more serious issues need to be referred to senior management and higher authorities.
Additional resources may be needed, changes to legislation could mean project
outcomes have to be revised and budgets renegotiated. Serious contractual issues with
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the client are not something you can deal with and should be referred to your senior
management.
In Module 1 we looked at the PDSA process as a process for identifying items for
improvement. Let's now look at feedback control and apply it to the control of quality on
a project. Feedback control is similar to the PDSA cycle in that it involves a cycle of
actions. It is a more general process and can readily include continuous improvement.
A process can have two types of input, controllable and uncontrollable. We try as far as
possible to move to a situation where we can exercise control over inputs. We cannot
stop it raining, but we can put a roof over our heads to control the rain. If the roof leaks,
we can repair the leak.
Basic Statistics
Measuring the progress of a project and ensuring that the de ned quality requirements
are being met usually involves the collection and analysis of statistical data. This process
known as statistical process control (SPC) gives us methods to deal with variability and
procedures for
In the feedback process we measure an output, compare it with a required value and if
necessary, apply a correction to the process to modify the output. It is important to
achieve a stable situation. For example, taking too long to measure the output and apply
a correction can cause the system to go out of control. We can apply the following model
to include a learning loop that progressively updates the reference standard using both
internal and external sources of information.
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The reference standard de nes what is to be achieved. It may be a simple number like
the output of a power supply. It must be something that the measurement can be
compared with. It will generally have tolerances within which no action is to be taken. If
the output goes above or below the tolerances, correction must be taken to bring the
process back into control.
The control chart is a basic device you can use in statistical process control. It charts how
much variation there is in a process, and whether this variation is random or follows a
pattern. Are things getting worse, staying the same or improving? A control chart can
help you identify whether a problem exists and help you implement solutions.
Section Summary
A quality project is one that satis es the needs of the client after external constraints
have been considered. The role of the project manager in a challenging one and is as
much about people management as the management of processes.
Throughout the project life cycle the project manager must interact with a range of
stakeholders to ensure the project meets their requirements and is completed using
processes and working methods that will achieve a quality outcome. E ective quality
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management involves focusing on the total management of a process and all of the
people involved.
Project managers must take responsibility for project quality assurance and for ensuring
that the required standards of quality are attained. They can achieve this by
implementing a quality management plan that provides a framework with appropriate
management processes, quality control procedures and documentation for achieving a
quality outcome.
Topic Resources
https://wiki.cac.washington.edu/display/pmportal/Sample+Project+Quality+Plan
(Accessed 13th November 2015)
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